Races - Federation

Racial choice is the second most important choice you make when creating a character, following the type of Officer you wish to be. Most premade races have unique traits that set them apart from what you would be able to create by using the Custom Race option, but these traits are not necessarily that good. On the other hand, premade races do not have access to all the traits Custom Races have access to, so it is up to you to judge the pros and cons carefully when selecting a race or making your own.

Federation Races

From all the Federation Races available I would recommend the Humans or the Vulcans as the most versatile.

Human – Leadership (Space) – 15% Repair Rate
- Teamwork – 5% Team Exploit Damage

Humans are the predominant Federation species and they get the racial bonuses to prove it! Leadership allows for a faster Repair Rate for your Spaceship while Teamwork improves the overall damage potential of your Away Team. Unfortunately both of these traits are mostly PvE, as you rarely have time to sit and repair in PvP and you cannot take your Away Team with you when fighting Klingon Captains.

That being said these traits are extremely solid PvE options and allow you to pick out 2 more PvP traits should you wish.

Andorian – Acute Sense – 20% Stealth Sight, 10% Exploit Damage
- Fury (optional) – Once you fall below 50% Hit Points, you deal increasingly more damage the lower you get.

Besides their physical appearance there is nothing special about Andorians as a Race. Their bonus trait is a generic one and can be added to almost any race. It is of use both in PvE and in PvP, especially once you reach Tier 2 and begin to encounter Tactical Klingon Officers equipped with Stealth Kits. Andorians also have access to the Fury trait, which increases their damage the closer they are to death. While this is quite useful in PvE where it is not uncommon to fight on with 50% or less Hit Points, in PvP you are usually targeted first once you fall below 50%.

Bajoran – Creative – 5% Damage and Healing with Kit Abilities
- Spiritual – 10% Heals received and 10% Regeneration

Bajorans are one of the newer additions to the Federation. They bring with them a generic trait – Creative – which improves the damage and healing dealt by Kit abilities only (Photon Grenades, Medical Tricorder, Triage etc) and a unique trait – Spiritual – which improves their health regeneration and increases the amount of healing they receive. While neither of these traits is impressive in either PvE or PvP, they are not useless either. However if you are looking for a more efficient race, you might want to skip Bajorans.

Benzite – Natural Armor – 3% Resist Energy Damage and 10% Resist Physical Damage
- Natural Immunities – 33% Radiation and Toxic Damage Resistance

The Benzite Race is all about damage resistance. Natural Armor is unique to these blue humanoids and provides minor resistances to Physical and Energy Damage, while Natural Immunities is a generic trait and provides massive damage reduction against Radiation and Toxic attacks. The problem is in PvP you will rarely encounter Radiation and Toxic Damage, while in PvE other traits would be better suited.

Betazoid – Emphatic – 20% Reduced Threat Generation and 5% Increased Team Regeneration
- Telepathic – 20% Stealth Sight, Increased Exposure Duration and Chance

Deanna Troi would be proud of her racial traits. The Betazoids are not only great Ship Counselors, but also mean machines in PvE and PvP when it comes to ground battles. Empathic (unique trait) reduces Threat Generation and increases Health Regeneration. The Regeneration is team wide, meaning that even in PvP anyone that is in your team (important they must be teamed with you and not just on the same side) and in range (15 meters) gets the buff. The second trait is generic but still useful, improving both Stealth Detection and increasing Expose Chance and Duration. This allows Betazoids to use Expose Weapons with greater efficiency.

Bolian – Corrosive Blood – 20% Toxic Resistance, Deal Toxic Damage when Bitten
- Teamwork (optional) – 5% Team Exploit Damage


Bolians are the second blue skinned race of the Federation. They only have a single trait to their name and that is mostly useless. Toxic Resistance may come in handy, but the ability to poison mobs that bite you is poor in PvE and useless in PvP. They also have access to Teamwork, the only race other than Humans with the option of taking this trait. Even with Teamwork, there are better races to choose from.

Saurian – Circulatory Redundancies – 40% Toxic, 25% Fire Damage Resistance and 10% Plasma DoT Damage Resistance
- Acute Senses – 20% Stealth Sight, 10% Exploit Damage

These funny looking, nose lacking, purple lollipops have 2 traits to their name. Circulatory Redundancies is their unique bonus, improving various resistance that are decent in PvE but of no use in PvP. A Klingon is more likely to smash your head in or vaporize you rather than set you on fire or poisoning you. The second trait is more useful in both PvE and PvP, but the Andorians also have it and they do not have a wasted trait slot to hinder their effectiveness.


Trill – Hyper Metabolism – 10% Health Regeneration, 33% Radiation and Toxic Damage Resistance

The Trills are almost identical to Humans in appearance, unless you count the freckles on the side of the heads as something other than bad skin. Their singular trait is decent enough in both PvE and PvP, but does not really shine in any department. Luckily they have 3 empty slots to fill with superior bonuses.

Vulcan – Logical – 30% Psionic Damage Resistance, 30% Placate and Confuse Resistance
- Physical Strength – 10% Melee Damage
- Mind Meld (optional) – Channeled short duration Hold and longer duration Confuse
- Nerve Pinch (optional) – Melee range 10 second Hold

One cannot talk about Vulcans without making a reference to Spock. Now that mentioning his name is out of the way, we can discuss the traits the race receives in STO. Logical gives Vulcans 30% Resistance to various negative effects. This is reasonable useful in PvE but not so much in early PvP where people don’t usually bother with the subtleties of Psionics. The second trait – Physical Strength – makes for a great option for Tactical Officers that choose to use the Close Combat Kits.

The two optional Vulcan only traits – Mind Meld and Nerve Pinch – can make them fearsome adversaries in PvP and quite potent Away Team Captains in PvE. Nerve Pinch alone is enough to guarantee victory in any one versus one encounter and Mind Meld can be used to sow chaos in an enemy group.

Overall Vulcans are a solid choice for any type of player.